So, you’re currently in Australia – what sort of things have you been up to?

Well you know, I don’t know what’s going on at the moment, I just got here.

My life’s kind of a whirlwind. I’m here though for the kids choice awards for Nickelodeon which is tomorrow, so today I’m doing all sorts of interviews, obviously – the first one being with you.

Are they going to cover you in slime?

I think they’re probably going to try to do that and I’m going to do my best to avoid it. I hopefully will be the one sliming other people.

You know, Nickelodeon is something I used to watch when I was a kid, it’s surreal to be involved in this at my ripe old age of 32.

You’re making me feel quite old now. Ok well not knowing what the other people look like, I’m going to put my $2 on you being the one avoiding being slimed…

Any plans to jump across the ditch to New Zealand and visit here?

You know I really wish I could, unfortunately I’m literally here for about two and a half days. Like I said, I just got to my hotel about three hours ago so I hit the ground running and tomorrow’s a busy day, and the day after that I’ve got a couple of engagements in the morning and then I’m off.

I fly right back in time for Monday Night Raw, so it’s a whirlwind!

Can you give us a little detail of how long you were training and wrestling before you joined up with the WWE?

Oh yeah, I started in 1997 and I didn’t sign with WWE until 2005, so that’s a good seven or eight years right there of wrestling pretty much all over the world, anywhere I could. So it takes a while, you know. Some guys are fortunate, they get snatched up right away. I was honing my craft elsewhere before I came to WWE.

What’s been your favourite, or most memorable, match so far in your career?

I definitely the last time I wrestled in Chicago at the money in the bank pay-per-view. I think that was the 17th of July this past year. That I think hands down has been, I mean the magnitude of that match, and the atmosphere, and the people. Obviously I won and I took off with the title (WWE Championship), something which has never been done before so that definitely is the most memorable match of my career.

You’ve had the spotlight cast on you in a big way in the past few months; with the reaction to your recent storyline on WWE, do you think we’ll start seeing some more real life elements coming through on WWE television?

I hope so. I think some guys are good at it and some guys aren’t, and with me it’s never really been about that. I’m not really a character; I’m not an astronaut, I’m not an evil foreign menace – I’m not trying to be something I’m not. I’m a straight edge kid from Chicago, and we can spin that in different ways, in different situations but what it boils down to [is that] I’m not really trying to be like a cartoon character, so I’m definitely more, I guess, reality-based as you’d expect.

Which other superstars do you think we should be keeping an eye on? Who’s going to be the “next big thing”?

Oh boy, it’s really hard to pick who the next big thing is and I don’t really like saying “the next big thing”. I think we’ve got a lot of great young talent – me being one of them you know. I think Randy Orton hasn’t hit his peak yet, I think John Cena hasn’t hit his stride yet, but as far as like talent that doesn’t get their fair shake, you’ve got Zack Ryder, I think Dolph Ziggler will eventually come into his own in a couple of years.

Then there’s guys that are down in developmental territories that are still getting [ready]. They’re still working to even show their face on TV, so there’s a lot of guys and girls out there. I always put over Beth Phoenix and Nattie Neidhart (Natalya) because they are pretty much the only girls in the WWE that didn’t start off as models;they’re wrestlers first, and they’re wrestlers just like me – so I have much love for those two girls.

Onto the WWE ‘12 videogame, have you had a chance to play it? Do you think they’ve done a good job bringing your personality and wrestling style through to the game?

I’ve played it but not as much as I’d like; I’m definitely not a videogame guy. I’m not going to say I’m an expert at that game, but being in a videogame was always one of my goals – so anytime I’m in one (and every year THQ comes out with a new one) I always sit down for a little bit to play it.

And they’ve got your complete move set, with all of your signature moves?

Oh absolutely, it’s almost scary you know; watching the videogame and how accurate some of the things are, and down to tattoos, and they have got my entrance in there and every single move I do. It’s a little creepy – but in a good way.

Do you ever get to delve into the storyline or creation modes? We recently saw a feature where you can create any arena you wish – that sounds pretty exciting.

I have not been involved that extensively in the game. I think I’ve played a couple of the other superstars, you know when there’s a videogame console around. I’ve played Kofi (Kingston) he’s lost every single time I’ve played him and he’s a big videogame guy too, so it’s always fun to beat him but no I haven’t gotten to play around with a lot of the features in the game yet.

Are there any of your fellow superstars that you’re looking forward to playing against?

I’m very competitive with Kofi, so he’s probably about the only one that – ah I mean, we compete in just about everything from words with friends on our iphones, to THQ games, to everything else.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to your many New Zealand fans?

Well I think anyone who supports myself and WWE, I think I owe them, you know, a “thank you”. I wish I was over here more often you know because I love … I mean one of the first tours I ever did, I think back in 2006 / 2007 was coming over and we did Christchurch and Auckland. I went out every night and meet a lot of people and the fans in New Zealand are always super-friendly and it’s such a great fascinating culture and like I said, I wish I could be over here more often. So you know, hopefully I’ll see everybody soon. Thank you for the support, keep supporting me.

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